This invention relates to vacuum cleaners. More particularly, the invention relates to vacuum cleaners having a removable dirt collection filter bag which is carried in a housing of the vacuum cleaner.
There are three types of powered upright vacuum cleaners which are in use today. A first type employs a soft, flexible, cloth dirt-catching bag which has an open weave such that air is permitted to pass through the bag while the dirt that is picked up by the vacuum cleaner remains in the bag. When the bag is sufficiently full, it is emptied into a suitable container or receptacle and the bag is then re-attached to the vacuum cleaner. A second type of upright vacuum cleaner uses a disposable air permeable paper bag that is held in a fabric outer bag which is permeable to permit free passage of air from the paper bag. One technique of connecting the bag to a blower outlet is to secure the bag over a tube leading from the blower outlet and then roll a rubber sleeve or a metallic band onto the neck of the bag to hold the bag in place. A third type of upright vacuum cleaner utilizes a hard box housing which has a sealed portion containing a disposable paper bag. The hard box upright vacuum cleaner is essentially a canister-type cleaner since the disposable bag is located upstream of the vacuum cleaner fan so that dirt is sucked into the bag rather than being propelled into it by the fan.
There are a number of disadvantages to each of these vacuum cleaner constructions in terms of easily disposing of dirt filled bags and replacing such bags with clean ones. One disadvantage of the flexible air permeable cloth bags is that the cleaning of the bag is a messy operation, especially if one is allergic to dust. The difficulty with disposable paper bags is that it is often a problem for a person to correctly secure an empty bag's mouth to the fill tube of the second type of upright vacuum cleaner or to an air inlet of the third type of upright vacuum cleaner. Also it is sometimes difficult to detach a full bag from either type of vacuum cleaner without spilling its contents.
Accordingly, it has been considered desirable to develop a new and improved vacuum cleaner bag mount assembly which would overcome the foregoing difficulties and others while providing better and more advantageous overall results.